The liberal, artisanal coffee drinkers sneering behind their iPhones at the hard-working miners and steel workers who've reclaimed the Reagan-era mantle of the "silent majority". It feels binary and fractured - but not for the first time.

The civil war probably has the edge on "divided times" status as does the civil rights era of the 1960s.

In today's America the economy is prospering - with that should come a degree of satisfaction.

Former president Barack Obama reckons there has never been a better time to be alive.

But despite that most people engaged in today's discord see this era as America's most divided, challenging chapter.

Fuelling that feeling is a force that previous hard times lacked - social media.

Observers say it is a key factor in this crisis of division. Political misinformation is being disseminated online more and more widely creating a hotbed of fake news.

Conspiracy outlets like Breitbart and Info Wars have gone mainstream. Russian trolls and bots are actively seeking to divide.

Facebook has become an echo chamber for people to cherry-pick news that fits their views and Twitter is the place to publicly and instantly condemn opinions that differ from your own.

Public discourse now has a home beyond the bar, office and dinner table and it seems to emboldens and heighten the vitriol of debate.

Image:When Donald Trump tweets only a small portion of America sees the actual post - he leaves it to cable news to bring it to the attention of the masses

Donald Trump's prolific, often combative tweeting sets the tone.

As Jon Meacham puts it in his new book, The Soul of America: "Trump has raised the metabolism of division to remarkable levels."

But it's important to note that while it may be Donald Trump's communication channel of choice - most Americans are not using Twitter. When the president tweets, only a small portion of America sees the actual post - he leaves it to cable news to bring it to the attention of the masses.

The number of Americans who get their news online is increasing but the majority still get it from TV where things are arguably even more polarised.

The battle lines are drawn nowhere more clearly than on the opinion-led cable news shows. Round-the-clock coverage of Trump has made viewing choices tribal. CNN/MSNBC is for the haters - Fox for the supporters.

Trump has actively encouraged the CNN "Fake News" trope - a convenient throwaway for anything critical. He openly praises Murdoch's Fox - his own viewing choice and a safe space for those disenfranchised voters who helped sweep Trump to power.

Eight years of Barack Obama brought progression that a large swathe of the population simply wasn't ready for. Obama himself - both delighted and terrified.

Throughout my years on the road in states like Iowa, Wisconsin and West Virginia, I've heard repeated assertions that Obama is not American, that he is a Muslim - even a terrorist.

For plenty of Americans his presidency was an occupation. With him came gay marriage and an increasingly diverse population. The pace was overwhelming - people who saw themselves as the true patriots felt left behind. Donald Trump has stoked those negative feelings that in turn have deepened fractures and stifled tolerance.

There was a time when Democrats had a right-leaning wing and liberals could be found in the GOP. Now there are no grey areas - if you identify as a Republican you are pro-guns, pro-life and generally anti-gay marriage.

Image:A perpetual state of deadlock has dogged Washington for the past decade

Democrats assume the opposing view on each issue. The art of political compromise seems lost - genuine bipartisanship is widely seen as a thing of the past. People are often too angry to listen.

A perpetual state of deadlock has dogged Washington for the past decade.

Even issues with bipartisan support have failed: funding of infrastructure projects, gun control measures have both fallen flat. This new era of spilt party control makes the notion of any progress seem impossible.

The impasse over the border wall kicked off what Mr Trump himself said could have been a "beautiful bipartisan" relationship. The notion of compromise is almost laughable.

Modern US politics has never been known for its cordiality. At the end of the brutal, protracted presidential campaign process, it's not just the candidates who are worn out - the population is exhausted by the kind of aggressive techniques that Donald Trump embraced.

In 2016 he proved proficient in verbal political assassination but America has been witnessing political dirty tricks for decades.

The negative, bombastic seeds were sown back in the 1980s by Bush senior's campaign manager Lee Atwater who unleashed the power of the negative ad: black and white - good and bad were the only options.

Representation of the middle ground has been pretty barren ever since. In reality lots of Americans do occupy a centre ground when it comes to opinion and policy - more and more people are identifying as independents. The two-party system is leaving lots of Americans feeling homeless.

The relationship between the political system and the media is a key driver of division.

Political muckraking increases polarisation - media coverage of it fuels confirmation bias: the interpretation of any new information as corroboration of your own beliefs - which could be the current definition of cable news in America.

This is about more than tricky Thanksgiving dinner conversations.

In the past six months alone an attempted bombing campaign took aim at leading Democrats and there was a massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Trump used culture wars as an electoral strategy - since then views that might have lain dormant are surfacing with sometimes violent consequences.

2020 Democratic contenders are lining up, promising a more unified, less toxic future. With all the shouting and foaming at the mouth it's hard to see how a more civilised approach could actually be heard above the ever increasing noise and discord.